A Johannesburg businessman has dragged his former landlord to the housing tribunal for allegedly refusing to refund his R27,000 deposit for a posh Sandton house he vacated in December.
For six months, Baete Putsoane has been fighting for his refund for the deposit he paid in January last year when he and his family moved into a lush five-bedroom house that comprises a swimming pool in a Lonehill complex in northern Johannesburg.
Putsoane said he made a R348,000 payment in three trenches for the year’s rent.
Sowetan Consumer has seen the copy of proof of payment addressed to his landlord’s agent.
Putsoane’s woes started late in 2020 when his previous landlord sold his property and this meant that Putsoane and his young family had to look for another place in the same area.
“I looked around and I saw this beautiful complex and I loved it. I called the agent and she gave us a tour of the property and my family was in love with it,” Putsoane said.
The agent then linked him with the property owner who facilitated the lease.
“After they checked my profile they saw the kind of assets I had, including a massive house I had built in the Vaal and they proposed that they’d give me a discount of R2,000 (from R27,000 to R25,000) if I paid up-front for the year.
“It sounded like a good deal because most businesses had suffered because of the Covid-19 restrictions and my wife and I had become used to paying things like school fees for a year up-front. It was a no-brainer to take the deal and the money was readily available,” said Putsoane.
He said he signed the lease and moved into the house in January 2021.
“The house was great but it has some snags like loose railings, broken wall plug sockets and the stove was broken.
“I’ve owned properties before and I knew some of these things might creep up and some of them were fixed and life went on,” said Putsoane.
He said another issue he had was not being billed for electricity for the first three months he took occupation of the property.
“I raised that matter with the owner. I was concerned because I wanted to pay what I owed and I was not getting the invoice. I also wanted the bill for tax purposes as a businessman.
“Eventually, they gave me a suspicious bill which I paid. The following month people from Eskom came wanting to switch off the electricity. They told me the property owed Eskom some money,” Putsoane said.
Putsoane eventually moved out of the property when the lease expired in January this year. However, he claims that his landlord, for no reason, refused to pay him back his deposit.
Last month, Putsoane contacted the Gauteng Rental Housing Tribunal in a bid to get his money back.
Sowetan Consumer has seen his complaint to the tribunal dated May 3.
Sowetan Consumer has been contacting the landlord since Friday but calls and several text messages received no response.
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.